Tuesday, April 16, 2013

The Link Between Suicide and Chronic Pain

Recently, the Times Free Press covered an article
focusing on chronic pain and suicidal tendencies. Unfortunately, all
too often, those with chronic pain tend to develop suicidal thoughts as
they see no effective treatment or cure for their pain.

According
to the article, there have been several large-scale studies that show
that at least 10% of suicides (with some studies reporting numbers as
large as 70%) are correlated with an extended illness or chronic pain.
Other research has shown that chronic pain is often linked to
depression, so it should not come as a surprise that suicidal thoughts
often follow a dual diagnosis of depression and chronic pain.

Chronic
pain is one of the most common and misunderstood medical issues in the
world. It is also extremely difficult to treat, especially in the long
term. Some sufferers of chronic pain become shut-ins and do not interact
with those in the outside world. Often, chronic pain patients often
deal with social stigma associated from people who do not fully
understand the disorder or do not consider it a real medical problem.

Attorney Doug Stoehr is a personal injury lawyer serving Blair and the seven surrounding counties in central Pennsylvania. He takes cases for clients who are experiencing chronic pain as the result of an injury due to the fault of another. For more information on his Altoona, PA area firm, please call his office at 814-946-4100 or visit his website at http://www.stoehrlaw.com.